The Cool Kids

by Eddie Robson

Bringing '88 back

"The Cool Kids may represent a watershed moment in hip-hop; the genre’s old-skool sounds are being revived by a couple of guys who weren’t even born when this stuff came around for the first time."

Here’s a spurious theory which we haven’t fully worked through: hip-hop has followed a similar path to folk-rock. It’s gone from being a vehicle of vital expression, to the pop zeitgeist, to something that, whilst still massively commercially successful, is rather bloated and a long way from where it started. Folk-rock ultimately produced The Eagles: hip-hop ended up with 50 Cent. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t still people doing good work, but it’s also no surprise to see a new generation delving back into the past to look for something else to connect with.

The Cool Kids – Chicago duo Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks – may represent a watershed moment in hip-hop: the genre's old-skool sounds are being revived by a couple of guys who weren’t even born when this stuff came around for the first time. Rock reached this point about twenty years ago – the point where a style of music has had so many phases and iterations that, to those coming to it new, the whole thing seems like a big pick’n’mix. That’s very much the impression created by ‘The Bake Sale’, which is very much an update of the mid-80s sound of Run D.M.C., Eric B & Rakim and The Beastie Boys, applying ideas developed into the interim to keep it all fresh.

The Cool Kids’ debut UK release, ‘The Bake Sale’, gathers together various tracks released by the duo over recent months, primarily via their Myspace page. ‘What Up Man’ and ‘88’ take advantage of modern production to create richer versions of a typical old-skool stuttering beat, but they’re equally adept at the more JB-style beat, as on standout track ‘What It Is’, which just flies out of the blocks. ‘A Little Bit Cooler’ proudly states their lack of gangsta credentials, whilst also highlighting their preoccupation with breakfast cereals. Elsewhere they take a smartly minimal approach, as on ‘One Two’.

Chuck and Mikey have suggested that they don’t regard ‘The Bake Sale’ as a full-length album, but an EP. It features ten tracks, comes in at 32:34, and is completely satisfying. Given the trend for hip-hop albums to fill up most of a CD’s capacity, ‘The Bake Sale’ is refreshing: compare and contrast with the Lupe Fiasco album, which features some excellent material but takes about eight tracks to really get going. Nothing here is above four minutes and it’s more enjoyable to spin this twice than to listen to a lot of hip-hop albums once. Don’t go too long on your ‘proper’ album, fellas.

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